The Council of the Village of Woodsfield
Sept 8, 2026
The Council of the Village of Woodsfield met in Regular Session on September 8, 2026.
I. Roll Call:
Present: Council Members; Tom Kirkland, Bill Allen, Kim Schaber, Tiffany Ramsay, Rusty Atkinson, Mayor Carol Hehr, Fiscal Officer Lori Cunard, and Village Administrator Kevin Brooks.
Absent: Solicitor Ryan Regel.
II. Pending Meeting Minutes Approval:
Rusty Atkinson made the motion to accept the August 17, 2026 Council meeting minutes as written. Bill Allen second the motion. Motion passed 5-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to go into Executive Session for Council member interviews. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second the motion. Motion passed 5-0. Executive Session entered at 5:35 p.m.
Mayor Hehr called the meeting back into Regular Session. Regular Session entered at 6:05 p.m.
Bill Allen made the motion to appoint Adam Griffith to the vacant Council seat. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Motion passed 5-0.
III. Oath of Office:
Adam Griffith, newly appointed Council member serving the term of Alicia Gardner through December 31, 2027, was sworn in by Mayor Carol Hehr.
IV. Registered Visitors:
Dee Vargo – Dee Vargo attended the Council meeting to speak about the Cemetery. She said there has been cross words and vocal opinions on Facebook and probably in person regarding the cutting of the grass and weed eating at the Cemetery and she said grass clippings are being left on the tombstones. She said she has attended to give suggestions on how to hopefully solve this problem.
Dee Vargo had been out to the Cemetery to her parents and other family members’ graves, and she did notice that there are dried grass clippings on the tombstones. She said she brushed the dried grass from the stones and when she did, she noticed there was some discoloration from the dried grass on the stones. Dee Vargo said it was then that she decided to come to a Council meeting to discuss the issue in a professional manner. She said she understands it is a big and time-consuming job and she appreciates the job the employees do. She said she knows there are juveniles and adults in the county who have to do community service hours. She wondered if this could be a solution for the Cemetery. She said these juveniles could work at the Cemetery cleaning stones to fulfill their community service hours.
Dee Vargo said if we can work together rather than sit and complain about it, we could find a solution. She thanked Council for their time and for listening to her concerns.
Mayor Hehr said a few years ago we did have some youth work at the Cemetery through a program with ODJFS. Mayor Hehr said they are not doing the program anymore, but we could look into the program for juveniles that have to do community service hours. She said that we did try that once several years ago and found that if someone is not standing with them and watching them, they don’t do what they are supposed to be doing.
Brittany VanMeenen – Brittany VanMeenen lives on Marietta Street and has attended to talk about a water leak that has hopefully been repaired at her home. She said there was a water leak between her property and the street that crossed her neighbor’s driveway into the drain on the opposite side. She said over the last 8 years the leak has been reported multiple times by them, the neighbors, and people walking by. Each time they were told the leak would be looked into and then they were told the leak was not significant enough to warrant anything being done about it.
Brittany VanMeenen said on September 1st workers arrived to fix the leak, and they were not notified of their water being shut off. She called the Utility Office, and they apologized for her water being shut off. The Utility Office had not notified her because they had not been aware of a leak being fixed.
Brittany VanMeenen said later in the day the workers asked her husband to come and look at the line, it was discovered that it was severely corroded to the point of debris. She said their concern is that the problem had been known about for years and what might have been a minor repair at that time has become a much larger issue now.
Brittany VanMeenen would like to ask Council who is responsible and as the homeowner she feels they should not be responsible for all of it. She said the main shut-off was not in the yard or at the curb but under the road. She said as of September 2nd the shut-off is at the corner of their lot. From their understanding a leak was also found under the road or near the edge of the road.
Brittany VanMeenen is asking for better communication with residents when work is being done, and utilities have to be shut off. She understands pipes are deteriorating and repairs need to be done.
Bill Allen said he does apologize for the communication issue, and he talked to Brian Harrigan, Water/Sewer Superintendent, about it. He said her shut off has been moved to the side of the road about a foot from where her neighbors are and her neighbor’s lines have been redone. The leak was on both sides of the shut off and she will not be billed for any of the repairs or the water from the leak. However, he told her the line is pretty weak and not to be surprised if she has a leak further back on her line later on.
Lynn Parker – Lynn Parker, Treasurer of the Monroe County Fair Board, attended to give Council a report on the 2026 Fair. He said the Fair was very successful. He said on Friday night they ran out of parking in the infield at the fairground. He said they were blessed with great weather for the week.
Lynn Parker said it was a record-breaking fair and from 2025 to 2026 there was a 4% increase in attendance. He said on Friday night they estimated 5,000 attended.
Lynn Parker said on Friday they were also able to do a youth day, and youth were charged their admission fee but received a $7.50 food voucher, $5.00 treat voucher, and they also received a ride voucher. He said 830 of those packets were given out to youth on Friday. He said all of the financial supporters of youth day have re-upped for next year.
Lynn Parker said the concessions were all very pleased at how well they did and some of them had record-breaking sales of all the fairs they had been to.
Lynn Parker said the County Fair Board is very strong, and you can see the results of their actions and efforts not just during fair week but all year long. He said the fairgrounds are always well maintained and the day after the fair they are out there cleaning up and mowing. He said they need to be recognized for their efforts, and they actually have to pay to be on the fair board meaning they have to buy a fair pass just like anyone else.
Lynn Parker said they think they have the parking issue resolved. They are looking into using parking at Generations Complex and hiring a constant shuttle. They are also looking into more seating and building a new grandstand.
Mayor Hehr said Council appreciates the information.
V. Old Business:
Kim Schaber said she is done asking for the website to be improved but she is going to inform everyone that she has discovered why she is getting bombarded with emails on her village email account. She said her email is the only active link shown on the website and it is her private email that was intended to be shared only with Council. She said none of the other emails shown for Council or Superintendents are active. Kim Schaber also said nothing is better about the website now than when she first brought it up at the public Q&A back on November 4th of 2024.
Kim Schaber said Daniel Denbow needs to get her email fixed. Mayor Hehr asked if she had contacted Daniel Denbow and Kim Schaber said she had no way to get ahold of him. She said as far as she knows the section to contact does not work either because not once has she had a response.
Kim Schaber has a few photos of the Cemetery that she has been receiving throughout the summer. She said they are photos of arrangements that have fallen off the stones and been run over and poor weed eating. She gave the photos to Tom Kirkland, Cemetery Committee Chairman.
Mayor Hehr said she called an individual regarding complaints about the Cemetery and with all of the rain we have been having when the grass is wet it does stick on the stones.
VI. Administrator Report:
Kevin Brooks, Village Administrator, asked for Council approval to hire Willie VanKirk as entry level Water Treatment Plant Operator in training at $15.00/hr. effective immediately. Kevin Brooks said the reason for the entry level new hire is to give Dan Haralson and Dustin Kirkland more time to train with Mark Haralson so they can take their Class II water license test. Bill Allen made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Kevin Brooks reported on the water/sewer storm separation project with M. O’Herron Construction; they are asking for a 90-day extension. The M. O’Herron Construction Company was bought out and the crew all quit so we had a 2-month period of no activity on the project. The 90-day extension will not add any money to the project. The completion date was supposed to be August 31st with a substantial completion date of September 30th. Mr. Brooks said they have met with the crew, and they are talking about bringing in a second crew to expedite the project. He said by the time we get to the downtown part of the project we will be up against the weather so when the crossings are done, we may or may not be able to pave. This would be a huge issue because it would make it hard to snowplow. Mr. Brooks thinks granting the extension and giving them the latitude to pave in the spring will be beneficial to us. He said they can do concrete in the crossings to get us through the winter, and it would be easy to remove and then pave in the spring. Mr. Brooks thinks it would be in our best interest to grant the 90-day extension to M. O’Herron on the project.
Tom Kirkland asked if we could work something out with them to help with the leak at the Sewer Plant. Mr. Brooks said that is a different company, it is Border Patrol doing the lines at the Sewer Plant and we have already put in a change order with them since they are already familiar with the Sewer Plant. He does not think it would be as beneficial to us to ask M. O’Herron to fix a leak at the Sewer Plant.
Tom Kirkland made a motion to grant a 90-day extension to M. O’Herron for the water/sewer storm sewer separation project. Bill Allen second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Kevin Brooks said last week we made an appeal to Buckeye Hills to go to OPWC regarding our 2026 street paving project. We awarded the project to Shelley & Sands, and we had some grant money left in the project so we asked District 18 Integrated Committee if we could utilize the rest of the grant money awarded to us. He said it has been a long-standing policy in District 18 not to do scope changes. There were a couple gentlemen in the district who stood up for us and what looked like was going to be a definite no turned out to be a yes for us. This gives us an additional $194,000.00 which is split with Lewisville, Woodsfield receives $174,000.00 and Lewisville gets $20,000.00. Mr. Brooks said we are now able to pave North and South Sycamore, which is in addition to the paving we have already submitted. Mr. Brooks said we did have a completion date of November 1st however; he will work with Shelley & Sands since we have added to the project. The 2026 street paving project will include E. Marietta, Paul St., Monroe St., W. Church St., Hancock, York, Shady Ave., Plum St., and N. and S. Sycamore which will be just north of $500,000.00 in paving.
Kevin Brooks said 2027 OPWC paving application was due today. We got a late start because the applications are usually completed for us. We were not able to use outside resources, so we had to do it internally. John Williams, Street Superintendent, did over an above to get parameters on each of the streets we are wanting to pave next year. The Fiscal Office was fantastic at getting together and uploading reports and Mr. Brooks input the application information. He also wanted to thank Amy Zwick, County Engineer, for doing a stamped engineers estimate last minute after just coming off vacation. Mr. Brooks said next years paving for the Village of Woodsfield will be $541,262.40 and it encompasses Andover, Center, Creamery, Guilford and High St. We took Lewisville on as a partner again; they have eight streets and everything they requested is being taken care of. The Village of Woodsfield will again put in a match of $250,000.00. Mr. Brooks thinks we will score well enough so that we can either get funded through the regular process or go to small government. It has always been our priority to use our Capital Improvement money to invest in street paving and if we are successful, we will have done well over a million dollars in street paving in 16 months.
VII. Fiscal Officer Report:
Lori Cunard said the August bank statement is reconciled and asked for Council signatures.
Lori Cunard asked Adam Griffith, new Council member, to stop in the Fiscal Office one day this week to pick up paperwork and complete it.
VIII. Committee Chair/Council Reports:
Tom Kirkland – Nothing to report.
Bill Allen – Nothing to report.
Adam Griffith – Nothing to report but he thanked Council for the opportunity.
Kim Schaber – Nothing to report.
Tiffany Ramsay – Tiffany Ramsay said the Property Maintenance Committee met this evening, and they are looking at the possibility of requiring vehicles that are sitting on property’s to be registered. She said they are going to be calling in a few people again that had been given time to do some work on their property. Tiffany Ramsay said they have a property on S. Paul Street that they have been working on for a couple of years that is going to be put on the County LandBank. She said there is also another property they have been working on for quite some time that they are going to do some clean up on.
Rusty Atkinson – Nothing to report.
IX: Solicitor’s Report:
Absent
X: Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the payment of bills. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Mayor’s Court Report, August 2026. Bill Allen made the motion. Rusty Atkinson second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve the Income Tax Report, August 2026. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Bill Allen second the motion. Kevin Brooks said we are tracking about $40,000.00 behind 2025 but with the projects in the Village he is hoping last quarter will pick up. He said we have been watching this for 2027 revenue budget Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr said included in packets is a letter from the Chamber of Commerce regarding the Christmas Parade to take place on Sunday, November 29th. They are requesting road closures in the downtown square for the parade route after Council approval. Rusty Atkinson made the motion to have Chief Corey Jones get ODOT permission to close the downtown square for the Christmas Parade. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr has been working with Verdantas on two grants for the downtown park that was funded through the Mayor’s Partnership. One grant was submitted for the Muskingum Watershed Grant and the other was submitted for the Monroe County Appalachian Grant.
Mayor Hehr said before Executive Session took place this evening, Walter Russell came to her and said he had to leave for another meeting. He would like to have permission on October 9th from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. to stand at the end of each island and collect money as people go by for the Maverick Playground at M.A.C.O. Kevin Brooks spoke up and said Council can do what they want but they cannot allow this without a liability waiver. Tom Kirkland suggested standing at one of the crosswalks rather than the middle of the islands. Rusty Atkinson suggested the crosswalk at Bauer-Turner as cars are coming into town. Rusty Atkinson made a motion to allow Walter Russell to stand at one of the crosswalks at the downtown square provided he sign a liability waiver first. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Resolution #2026-09, A Resolution Authorizing the Mayor and/or the Village Administrator to Prepare and Submit an Application to the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement Program for a Village Street Improvement and Paving Project and to Execute Contracts as Required, and Declaring an Emergency. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Bill Allen second the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Ordinance #13-2026, An Ordinance to Modify Rates, Rules, Regulations, Terms and Conditions for Electric Service Provided by the Village of Woodsfield, Ohio, by its First Reading. Bill Allen made the motion. Rusty Atkinson second the motion. Kevin Brooks stated that we were not going to raise rates for electric, but after the Utility Committee met and due to the fact, we have expiring contracts with Shell at the end of 2027 and being nowhere near the rates we currently have secured, we need to generate more revenue. Kim Schaber – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes, Adam Griffith – yes, Tom Kirkland – yes. Motion passed 6-0 by its first reading.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Ordinance #14-2026, An Ordinance to Make Temporary Appropriations for the Current Expenses and Other Expenditures of the Village of Woodsfield, State of Ohio During the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2027, by its First Reading. Tom Kirkland made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second the motion. Adam Griffith asked how this is communicated when the Ordinance is passed. Mayor Hehr said it will be published in the Beacon and Kevin Brooks also stated that these Ordinances do not take effect until 2027, so we are doing them early to have the three readings. He said just because you vote yes on the first reading does not mean you have to vote yes on the next reading. Bill Allen – yes, Adam Griffith – yes, Kim Schaber – yes, Rusty Atkinson – yes. Motion passed 6-0 by its first reading.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Ordinance #16-2026, An Ordinance Providing for Amending and Revising Specific Line-Items in the Appropriations of Expenditures for the Village of Woodsfield for the Calendar Year 2026 and Declaring an Emergency. A Motion to Suspend the Three-Reading Rule and Pass this Ordinance as an Emergency Measure was made. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Tom Kirkland second the motion. Bill Allen – yes, Adam Griffith – yes, Kim Schaber – yes, Rusty Atkinson – yes. Motion passed 6-0. Ordinance #16-2026 adopted.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Ordinance #15-2026, An Ordinance to Increase Water and Sewer Rates to Consumers, by its First Reading. Bill Allen made the motion. Rusty Atkinson second the motion. Kevin Brooks said to be clear this was the Utility Committee recommendation. Tom Kirkland – yes, Adam Griffith – yes, Kim Schaber – yes, Tiffany Ramsay – yes. Motion passed 6-0, by its first reading.
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to approve Resolution #2026-06, A Resolution to Give the Village Full-Time Employees a Pay Increase January 1, 2027. Tiffany Ramsay made the motion. Bill Allen second the motion. Mayor Hehr explained that comp time will be taken away for all salaried employees as of January 1, 2027, so in turn they will get an additional $4,000.00 increase per year. Kevin Brooks explained that we are doing away with comp time to help get rid of a future liability since any comp time accrued has to be paid out at retirement, termination, etc. Adam Griffith asked if a 5% pay raise is an annual raise for employees. Kevin Brooks explained that during 2027 the Finance Committee/Personnel Committee will meet and discuss what they want to do moving forward. He said there is no guarantee that employees will get raises every year. Mr. Brooks said it is something that is looked at based on the Village financial picture. Something else that is taken into consideration is health insurance because the Village pays 90% of employees’ health insurance and we have not gotten quotes for 2027 yet.
Adam Griffith asked about the comp time and if a salaried employee has time left at the end of the year. Kevin Brooks said they are encouraged to use as much as they can before the end of the year but if they have time left it will go away. They will sign a waiver, and any unused comp time will be done away with but that is part of the extra pay they are getting, we are basically buying out unused comp time. Motion passed 6-0.
XI. Un-registered Visitors/Guests (each allotted 2 minutes):
None
XII. Adjourn:
Mayor Hehr asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Adam Griffith made the motion. Tiffany Ramsay second. Motion passed 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
ATTEST:
___________________________ ____________________________
Carol Hehr, Mayor Lori Cunard, Fiscal Officer